Page 43 of Laying Low

“I’ve got it,” Anthony said softly.“I stopped at an ATM in San Francisco.I have alotof cash on me.”

Reg gave him a grateful smile—but also a pained one.He had work waiting for him on his computer, and he wondered if he’d have to give up his apartment and move in with his parents after this.

He must have been pretty transparent, though, because Anthony forked out a hundred and fifty dollars for premium cheese and ice cream and sent the boys to go find them a table before turning quietly to him and saying, “Things getting a little tight?”

Reg grimaced.“Yeah.I mean, Dean or Sal can probably front me until I recover from this, but I don’t have a lot of cash on hand.You?”

Anthony shrugged.“Business is doing great, actually.Dad could officially retire at any time, but he still loves teaching at the range and keeping his licenses current.We’ve been turning a steady profit almost since we opened the place, and after we stopped fighting Dad started the process for the LLC almost immediately, so if either one of us is ineligible to own firearms, that person becomes an investor while the other one of us takes over the business.So yeah.I could basically take off to Thailand for a year, and as long as Dad keeps the place running, I’d still have my house when I got back.”

Reg startled, staring at him as he balanced their tray of sundaes and splits.“Are you thinking about that?”he almost squeaked.“Running away to Thailand for a year?”

“No.”Anthony laughed, taking the tray from him and setting it on the table the boys had reserved.“Althoughthisis pretty fun, and I wouldn’t mind taking my boyfriend to Hawaii sometime soon, to see if that’s good too.”

Reg gaped at him while everybody else pulled their frozen treat off the tray.“Your, uhm?”

“He’s talking aboutyou, Mr.Royal,” Ilia said before shoving a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.“Oh my God, that’s good.Thankyou, Mr.McCauley, for spoiling us rotten out of guilt.”

Anthony chuckled.“He’s right a lot,” he said softly.“Yes, you are the boyfriend I would be taking to Hawaii.Would you mind?”

“No,” Reg said, staring at him, thinking of ocean and sand, of swimming and surfing and… and doing all the things with a glistening naked Anthony McCauley that he’d been dreaming about since they’d met.“I mean, yes.”

Anthony’s eyebrows rose.

“I mean, no, I wouldn’t mind.Yes, I would love to go.And, uhm, yes.I….We still need to discuss how that would work,” he said, squeaking.

“Mm.”Anthony took a spoonful of ice cream off the cup on his tray and popped it into Reg’s mouth.

Reg’s eyes went to half-mast, and he sank into the sweetness and the chocolatiness and the cream of it.

“See?”Anthony murmured in a voice meant for Reg’s ears alone.“That’s how it would work.”

Reg swallowed, and then his eyes widened as he got the implications.

Anthony winked at him and gave him his own spoon and ice cream before turning back to the boys and asking them questions about lactose intolerance and if they’d need to take anything before they got back into the car.

Reg chuckled to himself and resumed eating his ice cream, but he was gazing out into space in a happy dream of him and Anthony eating ice cream in Hawaii when he saw something that made him choke.

“You okay?”Anthony asked in concern, and Reghmmed softly.“Hey, guys—finish up when you’re ready, and then we’ll take turns hitting the head.”

“Ooh….”Reynaldo had pretty much wiped out his entire sundae in the time it had taken Reg to woolgather.“Okay, yeah.I gottawhiz.”

“Bathroom’s right over there,” Anthony said, giving Reg a sideways glance.“We’ll be right there.Ilia, go with him.”

Ilia followed, finishing the last of his sundae as he went.

“What did you see?”Anthony asked as he and Reg stood and finished cleaning the table of their detritus.

“Look through the big window to the parking lot,” Reg murmured.“What do you see?”

Anthony kept his gaze casual, but Reg heard him suck air in through his teeth.“I see two SUVs full of bozos in masks and tactical gear.Could be ICE, could be fuckin’ Bratva, but you know what the real question is, don’t you?”

“Are they looking forus?”Reg asked, and Anthony nodded.

“Plan?”Anthony asked.

Reg closed his eyes and started running through routes and trails and where the pier was and….

“Got it,” he said.“Okay, I got it.One of us takes the boys and follows that trail to the shore.I think the trail keeps going.It’s about a couple of miles to the docks and the hotels and stuff.The other one grabs all the gear and catches up.”